Little effect on cruise sector from Bay Street Fire
Courtesy of The Tribune
The blazing fire that spread in the northeast area of Bay Street had a minimal effect on cruise ship activity, with a tourism executive saying none of the three vessels or 7,929 stopover visitors on Monday were hindered.
Director of Cruise Development for the Ministry of Tourism Carla Stuart told Guardian Business yesterday it was business as usual for the cruise port, with only a few safety measures being taken because of the fire.
“The three ships that were scheduled to come here were already in port when the fire broke out and those passengers are moving about freely and are safe,” Stuart said. “We had to execute our emergency evacuation program and have them access the port through the western gate. But for the most part, visitors have moved around unhindered.”
Her comments come after buildings in the northeast corner of Bay and East Street were severely damaged by fire on Monday morning. The entire block is reportedly destroyed, with the Bacardi Building, Betty K offices and Tempo Paris, among others, swallowed in flames.
Stuart mentioned that the evacuation system will be in place until further word comes from the Port Department to operate under normal conditions. The welcome center, which is the primary hub for cruise visitors, closed yesterday because of the fire, but is expected to open today.
Other businesses that receive indirect benefits from the cruise ships were not greatly affected either, according to Stuart.
“The tours are going on as normal and we haven’t had any real complaints, everything is going smoothly,” she said. “The only passengers that would have been affected were those impacted by vehicular traffic, but Atlantis was able to [accommodate] them by water ferry.”
The Florida Caribbean Cruise Association was also notified of the fire to ensure the organization and future passengers that the incident wouldn’t have a great effect on the cruise ships of their members. A cruise line also contacted the Ministry of Tourism to offer its sympathy.
“The Disney cruise line actually contacted us and wished us well going forward during the recovery stages, which was pretty surprising, to hear from an agency so soon,” she said. “They also said they were still comfortable with traveling here despite the fire, so that’s encouraging.”
A total of 7,929 stopover passengers traveled to Nassau on Monday, all coming from the Disney, Carnival and Oceania cruise lines. Stuart said since today will be slower because only one cruise ship is coming to Nassau, it will serve as a good day to regroup.
